Jonnyboy
25-11-2017, 07:32 PM
Last week I felt we grabbed a defeat from the jaws of a draw and today I felt we grabbed a draw from the jaws of victory. Put another way, we dropped five points out of a possible six due to an inability to capitalise on chances made, to put teams away when we were very much in control and to stupidly forfeit possession and then fail to cut out a telling cross which led to a goal being conceded.
Enough of last week though. Today we were missing Gray through injury and Stokes due to a virus and that led to a recall for Steven Whittaker at right back and the welcome return of Dylan McGeouch in midfield. It was good too, to see Darren McGregor deemed fit enough to take a place on the bench although he was never called into action.
I felt we started quite slowly and for the first ten minutes or so we seemed to be trying to adapt to that abomination of a playing surface. To me it is scandalous that a top flight team is allowed to have such a playing surface but then I’m very much against artificial pitches and feel that football should always be played on grass. In that brief opening spell you could see Hibs players trying to anticipate where a bounce would take the ball as the surface meant it would not run or bounce true.
Other than a couple of long range efforts, neither keeper was really tested in the opening half hour. The busiest man on the park at that stage was referee Don Robertson who found he had to stop play on a regular basis for fouls being committed predominantly; it has to be said, by Accies players.
It was just on the half hour that Hibs opened the scoring when Brandon Barker took possession around ten yards inside his own half and went on a mazy run past numerous defenders, two of whom tried and failed to trip him up, before picking a pass to Simon Murray on the left side of the home penalty area. Murray took one touch and then lashed the ball home with Woods getting a touch but beaten by the ferocity of the strike.
By this time, two Accies players had been booked and it could have been more with Robertson content to dole out a finger wagging reprimand to both Docherty and Skondras. Hibs piled forward at every opportunity after that but had shots at goal blocked and Woods denied them with a couple of decent saves too, one from Boyle being exceptional after McGeouch had set the winger up and the other from McGinn whose pile driver was tipped over the bar.
At half time I remarked to my brother that Accies were playing the way Aberdeen played against us at Easter Road. Plenty of fouls and sharing them out so that the referee couldn’t yellow card anyone for persistent fouling. Quite how Greg Docherty avoided a yellow is beyond me as he had at least five fouls awarded against him in the opening forty five minutes.
Accies changed their formation for the second half but I felt that Hibs continued to dominate the ball in the first twenty minutes or so. Murray went close after a good cross from Barker and both Boyle and McGeouch had shots charged down. The longer the lead was only one goal the more hope it gave Accies and with around twenty minutes left, the home side scored. Once again it was a poor piece of play that gave them the chance when Marvin Bartley allowed Templeton to bully him off the ball. The ex-Hearts man then delivered a great ball into the box, splitting our central defenders and allowing Rojano to loop a header over the exposed Marciano and into the net. Only the staunchest of Accies fans must have felt it was deserved because Hibs had been totally in control of the game. With time running down, Whittaker fired wildly over the bar and Woods did very well to dive low to his left to thwart Lewis Stevenson scoring with a well hit drive.
During the whole second half, Don Robertson was again a busy man booking more Accies players including, and not before time, Greg Docherty while John McGinn was also cautioned. The final yellow card in the game was given to Tomas who cynically scythed down John McGinn about twenty yards from goal. It was, to my mind a professional foul and a red would not have been out of place. Red was the colour I was seeing as from the resultant free kick, Whittaker tapped the ball to McGinn who tried to create an angle for a shot only to be closed down by Accies defenders who had known exactly what Hibs were trying to do. Seconds left in the game, a chance to have a pop at goal from a decent position and Hibs send the Accies defender a telegram pointing out what they were about to try.
I listened to Neil Lennon’s post-match interview in the car on the way home and while I agree that Don Robertson wasn’t firm enough in dealing with the continual fouling of Hibs players I can’t help feeling that the gaffer has left himself open to a punishment from the authorities.
The players
Rocky – I honestly can’t remember him having a save of any note to make. My mate felt that Rocky’s positioning for the goal was poor but to my mind he was setting himself for a ‘conventional’ header at goal and so the looped effort, like Jason’s at Tynecastle, left the keeper flat footed.
Whitty – was solid enough and seemed to link well with Boyler on occasion but still prone to the odd missed tackle that allows opponents to get beyond him.
Efe – pipe and slippers time again as he basically strolled through the ninety minutes with some well-timed interceptions and a good few headed clearances.
Paul Hanlon – another who strolled through the game, Paul never looks flustered and his distribution is largely very good. If I had a gripe it would be that both he and Efe were close enough to Rojano to have beaten him in the jump at the goal.
Lewis – much better today and despite assertions to the contrary, he played a number of very good forward passes as well as having a good shot well saved by Woods.
Boyler – I wonder if he likes his new song? It was sung long and loud today and Martin deserves the acclaim as once again he had a very good game.
Dylan – the wee man was all over the park tonight but he must have left the field at the end of the game covered in bruises as the Accies players kicked him up and down the park. Despite that, he always made himself available for the pass and always looked to create going forward. There were two or three I might have picked out for today’s man of the match but Dylan wins it for me.
Marv – started really slowly and only after he’d been hacked down after about fifteen minutes did he seem to become more involved. It was very poor from him allowing wee David Templeton to bully him off the ball at the goal though. Neil said he felt it was a foul but I disagree as there is no way on this earth that a wee guy like Templeton should be able to outmuscle Marv.
SJM – all over the park again and always trying to drive us forward but for goodness sake John, if we get another free kick situation like the one today, please just shoot for goal!
Barker – a magnificent run and set up for Murray’s goal and a few other mazy runs too, but when he stands static around the half way line when Lewis is in possession, why oh why does he not run into space for the ball over the top?
Simon – I paid particular attention to Simon today and the number of times he made diagonal runs while signalling for the pas was unreal. Sadly for him, none of his team mates seemed to notice. Took his goal really well and deserved it for his tireless running.
Slivka – replaced Barker and had one or two good runs at the Accies defence but nothing came of them.
Oli – replaced Murray but had little or no time to have any impact.
Big Davy – sixty seconds here and there gives us no real chance to see what he’s capable of.
Referee – Don Robertson was far too lenient at times but otherwise he was ok which coming from me is high praise indeed!
Neil – obviously massively disappointed as we all are but although the ref was indeed too lenient I can’t agree that cost us the win. It was the familiar inability to put teams away when dominating the game that cost us two points and second place in the league.
The fans – once again out in great numbers but damn those singing section folks for endlessly belting out the Martin Boyle song and subjecting me to an ear worm!
Enough of last week though. Today we were missing Gray through injury and Stokes due to a virus and that led to a recall for Steven Whittaker at right back and the welcome return of Dylan McGeouch in midfield. It was good too, to see Darren McGregor deemed fit enough to take a place on the bench although he was never called into action.
I felt we started quite slowly and for the first ten minutes or so we seemed to be trying to adapt to that abomination of a playing surface. To me it is scandalous that a top flight team is allowed to have such a playing surface but then I’m very much against artificial pitches and feel that football should always be played on grass. In that brief opening spell you could see Hibs players trying to anticipate where a bounce would take the ball as the surface meant it would not run or bounce true.
Other than a couple of long range efforts, neither keeper was really tested in the opening half hour. The busiest man on the park at that stage was referee Don Robertson who found he had to stop play on a regular basis for fouls being committed predominantly; it has to be said, by Accies players.
It was just on the half hour that Hibs opened the scoring when Brandon Barker took possession around ten yards inside his own half and went on a mazy run past numerous defenders, two of whom tried and failed to trip him up, before picking a pass to Simon Murray on the left side of the home penalty area. Murray took one touch and then lashed the ball home with Woods getting a touch but beaten by the ferocity of the strike.
By this time, two Accies players had been booked and it could have been more with Robertson content to dole out a finger wagging reprimand to both Docherty and Skondras. Hibs piled forward at every opportunity after that but had shots at goal blocked and Woods denied them with a couple of decent saves too, one from Boyle being exceptional after McGeouch had set the winger up and the other from McGinn whose pile driver was tipped over the bar.
At half time I remarked to my brother that Accies were playing the way Aberdeen played against us at Easter Road. Plenty of fouls and sharing them out so that the referee couldn’t yellow card anyone for persistent fouling. Quite how Greg Docherty avoided a yellow is beyond me as he had at least five fouls awarded against him in the opening forty five minutes.
Accies changed their formation for the second half but I felt that Hibs continued to dominate the ball in the first twenty minutes or so. Murray went close after a good cross from Barker and both Boyle and McGeouch had shots charged down. The longer the lead was only one goal the more hope it gave Accies and with around twenty minutes left, the home side scored. Once again it was a poor piece of play that gave them the chance when Marvin Bartley allowed Templeton to bully him off the ball. The ex-Hearts man then delivered a great ball into the box, splitting our central defenders and allowing Rojano to loop a header over the exposed Marciano and into the net. Only the staunchest of Accies fans must have felt it was deserved because Hibs had been totally in control of the game. With time running down, Whittaker fired wildly over the bar and Woods did very well to dive low to his left to thwart Lewis Stevenson scoring with a well hit drive.
During the whole second half, Don Robertson was again a busy man booking more Accies players including, and not before time, Greg Docherty while John McGinn was also cautioned. The final yellow card in the game was given to Tomas who cynically scythed down John McGinn about twenty yards from goal. It was, to my mind a professional foul and a red would not have been out of place. Red was the colour I was seeing as from the resultant free kick, Whittaker tapped the ball to McGinn who tried to create an angle for a shot only to be closed down by Accies defenders who had known exactly what Hibs were trying to do. Seconds left in the game, a chance to have a pop at goal from a decent position and Hibs send the Accies defender a telegram pointing out what they were about to try.
I listened to Neil Lennon’s post-match interview in the car on the way home and while I agree that Don Robertson wasn’t firm enough in dealing with the continual fouling of Hibs players I can’t help feeling that the gaffer has left himself open to a punishment from the authorities.
The players
Rocky – I honestly can’t remember him having a save of any note to make. My mate felt that Rocky’s positioning for the goal was poor but to my mind he was setting himself for a ‘conventional’ header at goal and so the looped effort, like Jason’s at Tynecastle, left the keeper flat footed.
Whitty – was solid enough and seemed to link well with Boyler on occasion but still prone to the odd missed tackle that allows opponents to get beyond him.
Efe – pipe and slippers time again as he basically strolled through the ninety minutes with some well-timed interceptions and a good few headed clearances.
Paul Hanlon – another who strolled through the game, Paul never looks flustered and his distribution is largely very good. If I had a gripe it would be that both he and Efe were close enough to Rojano to have beaten him in the jump at the goal.
Lewis – much better today and despite assertions to the contrary, he played a number of very good forward passes as well as having a good shot well saved by Woods.
Boyler – I wonder if he likes his new song? It was sung long and loud today and Martin deserves the acclaim as once again he had a very good game.
Dylan – the wee man was all over the park tonight but he must have left the field at the end of the game covered in bruises as the Accies players kicked him up and down the park. Despite that, he always made himself available for the pass and always looked to create going forward. There were two or three I might have picked out for today’s man of the match but Dylan wins it for me.
Marv – started really slowly and only after he’d been hacked down after about fifteen minutes did he seem to become more involved. It was very poor from him allowing wee David Templeton to bully him off the ball at the goal though. Neil said he felt it was a foul but I disagree as there is no way on this earth that a wee guy like Templeton should be able to outmuscle Marv.
SJM – all over the park again and always trying to drive us forward but for goodness sake John, if we get another free kick situation like the one today, please just shoot for goal!
Barker – a magnificent run and set up for Murray’s goal and a few other mazy runs too, but when he stands static around the half way line when Lewis is in possession, why oh why does he not run into space for the ball over the top?
Simon – I paid particular attention to Simon today and the number of times he made diagonal runs while signalling for the pas was unreal. Sadly for him, none of his team mates seemed to notice. Took his goal really well and deserved it for his tireless running.
Slivka – replaced Barker and had one or two good runs at the Accies defence but nothing came of them.
Oli – replaced Murray but had little or no time to have any impact.
Big Davy – sixty seconds here and there gives us no real chance to see what he’s capable of.
Referee – Don Robertson was far too lenient at times but otherwise he was ok which coming from me is high praise indeed!
Neil – obviously massively disappointed as we all are but although the ref was indeed too lenient I can’t agree that cost us the win. It was the familiar inability to put teams away when dominating the game that cost us two points and second place in the league.
The fans – once again out in great numbers but damn those singing section folks for endlessly belting out the Martin Boyle song and subjecting me to an ear worm!